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money laundering

New information on the Panama Papers story about the billions of dollars allegedly being moved around offshore by a close friend of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin emerged Tuesday, as Lithuanian law enforcement verified some of the details.

Bosnia and Herzegovina State Police (SIPA) have detained 10 people for questioning, suspected of being part of an organized crime group which fleeced Bobar Bank of around 123 million Bosnian Marks (US$ 71.5 million). The fraud has shaken the country's banking sector, prosecutors said.

The US Department of Justice has charged three people from Turkey and Iran with moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the government of Iran and Iranian companies, in an apparent attempt to evade economic sanctions.

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva was charged late Wednesday with money laundering and tax misrepresentation, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said, and prosecutors want him arrested, according to the Guardian.

Russia is often criticized as a major source of international money laundering but its Central Bank’s official figures suggest it’s starting to get on top of the problem, based on US State Department reports.

Latvia’s financial regulator has fined the Baltic International Bank (BIB) € 1.1 million (US$ 1.2 million) due to repeated violations of laws regarding money laundering, terrorist financing and customer due diligence, a news release by the regulator said today.

It took five days and nearly 200 interviews, but police across Europe last week arrested 81 people accused of working as “money mules” for cybercriminals, helping transport or launder an estimated € 7.5 million (US$ 8.1 million), according to Dutch police.

Eleven members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) were charged with conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to an indictment from the US District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division.

Five directors of the Spanish branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have been arrested as part of a probe into alleged money laundering of more than € 40 million (US$ 44 million), according to a Feb. 17 news release from Europol.

Families of US citizens murdered by drug cartels in Mexico are suing HSBC, saying it let the cartels launder billions of dollars to operate their businesses, resulting in the destruction of numerous lives, according to a casefiled in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) arrested Pavlovic Bank owner Slobodan Pavlovic and three others on Feb. 11. The suspects are under investigation for abuse of office and money laundering in connection with Pavlovic Bank, according to authorities.

Darko Saric at court (photo:KRIK)Balkan drug lord Darko Saric is no stranger to courtrooms in Serbia. Stories on his ongoing trials have been published on the front pages of Serbian news portals for the past few years, catapulting the once-obscure organized crime figure into one of the most talked-about "persons of interest" in Serbia.

Dutch Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt questions whether Cyprus is paying “lip service” to international money laundering regulations after its failure to go after banks involved in money laundering in the scandalous and tragic Sergei Magnitsky case, reported the EU Observer.

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) said on Friday that it would set “operational restrictions” on Trasta Komercbanka barring the bank from carrying out debit transactions in any currency, including through online banking, ATMs, and by cash to customers for any amount in excess of € 100,000 (US$ 108,000).

An inquest into the November 2012 death of Russian tycoon Alexander Perepilichny has been further delayed because Surrey police invoked public interest immunity (PII) to withhold 49 key documents in relation to the case, reported The Sun.